The Recycling Centre in Castle Road, Rayleigh is grinding to a halt this morning. Because so many people have been going there this weekend nearly all the skips are full, so as at 11 am this morning they are using a dustcart parked inside to take most of the stuff . That’s making it harder for drivers to get out of there after they’ve unloaded their stuff….
Waste Collections:
Waste collections have now returned to normal with the exception of Monday (21 Jan) and Tuesdays (22 Jan) compostables collections which will be collected next week on your normal collection day.
Sports Pitches:
Council officers have been out this morning (Friday Jan 25) inspecting pitches that are used for sport by local clubs over the weekends.
Having inspected all Council sports pitches we are afraid to say that the none of our pitches except Rochford Recreation Ground and Great Wakering Recreation Ground will be available for use this weekend.
The District Council advise on their website:
Monday – All waste and recycling collections have been suspended until further notice due to adverse weather conditions. If possible, leave your bins presented at the boundary of your property for collection and continue to check the website for further updates and advice
As the Echo have reported the District Council look set to create a Traveller Site at Michelins Farm, near the junction of the A127 and A1245.
It’s not been offically decided yet, but we can’t see the council picking another site now.
Although it is called a farm , it’s really just a piece of poorly -maintained land at the moment. One corner of the site would provide 15 pitches for travellers (=30 caravans), and the rest would become an industrial site. Also, the recycling centre in Castle Road, Rayleigh, would be moved here.
On the whole this looks to be the most suitable location for a traveller site in the District. It would also make it much easier to take enforcement action against unofficial traveller sites. However, some care will need to be taken to provide separation from the industrial uses.
The other possible sites that the council has looked at were the A1245 (where travellers are now) , Madrid Avenue off Rawreth Lane, and to the south of London Road. Michelins Farm does seem a better choice than these alternatives.
Though it will strike some people as odd that the council could find 5 potential sites in Rawreth and West Rayleigh, but not one possibility from Hockley, Hawkwell, Rochford, Ashingdon, Canewdon, Stambridge, Paglesham, Great Wakering, Barling, Shopland and Sutton put together. Perhaps a more suitable location has been overlooked.
Rawreth Parish Council meets next Wednesday at 7:30 in the Rawreth Village Hall.
This time District Councillor Mike Steptoe, who is in charge of grass-cutting, grounds maintenance and recycling, will be coming along to answer questions.
Paul Tovell, from Anglian Water, will also be coming to give an update on the Rayleigh West Treatment Plant.
Should be a good meeting. If you live in Rawreth, or near the parish, it could be worth coming along.
The District Council have just come up with two ideas – one for promoting recycling and one for promoting marriages at the Rayleigh Windmill.
First of all, recycling. The District have been very successful in recent years in making us think about recycling issues. In fact we do know of one lady resident who dreamed last week that she was married to Usain Bolt. And all they wanted to do in the dream was to do recycling together….
Anyway, the District Council is going to be giving out car stickers at local events, in the Council Offices receptions in Rayleigh and Rochford, and at local libraries. If council staff see a sticker in your car in the next couple of months you could win a prize. More information here.
The second idea isn’t confirmed yet. But the Rayleigh Windmill will soon be hosting its 100th wedding. It looks likely that there will be a special offer coming soon – we will let you know when it is confirmed.
Update: we got this one a bit wrong- so we are amending what’s below and will do a separate update on this….
There’s a mixture of good and bad news in the latest financial report to the District Council. You can download it here. (732kb)
The good news is that:
The bad news is that:
So for this year the council’s finances look okay, thanks partly to residents’ good work on recycling…..
The Cabinet Member for the Environment, Cllr Mike Steptoe, made an interesting decision on April 30th. The District Council will be applying to the government for extra grant to bring back weekly recycling for all items for flats.
Basically, the government is keen to bring back weekly recycling across the UK, and is providing 250 million Pounds towards this. Now, the government is trying to cut the national deficit , which needs to be done. So it’s a bit surprising that the government is willing to hand out 250 million Pounds in this way, especially when districts such as Rochford have shown you can do so well with fortnightly collection of dry items.
But anyway, that’s the amount of money thats around, and there’s been around 180 bids so far from councils for this cash. Rochford is applying for a relatively modest amount, to help with the most difficult places to recycle – flats without much space to store waste. The extra grant would help with the extra costs of a weekly collection for flats, plus two smaller vehicles. This seems a sensible thing to do, we back Cllr Steptoe and the officers on this, so lets hope we can have a successful bid.
You can download the decision and the background report from here – it’s the decision made on April 30th (113kb)
The District Council have advised as follows:
Recycling collections are now back to normal after the severe weather although compostables collections (green bins) were suspended all week. Normal collections will resume next week (subject to weather). Please place your non-recyclables bin and compostables bin out for collection on your usual collection day.
The District Council have contacted us today and advised us as follows:
Collection of recycling bins will take place today as normal, compostables collections are still suspended to enable the recycling collections to catch up. The next update will be placed on the website at 9am Wednesday morning.
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Please also be aware that the public toilets in Hullbridge have been closed temporarily due to a burst water main. For more information on the situation we recommend you telephone Essex and Suffolk Water on .
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We also have a facebook page which is available through the following link, this page is also regularly updated.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Recycle-For-Rochford/276358509073126
Update: the Hullbridge toilets are now open
From the District Council website yesterday
WEEE Day on Saturday at Greensward Academy! Bring your unwanted small electricals and electronics!
Recycle your small waste electronic and electrical items.
WEEE Day on Saturday 14 January 2012, 9am -12pm.
Greensward Academy
Greenward Lane
Hockley
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Please bring:
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* Small electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones)
* Electrical personal care (e.g. hairdryers)
* Small electrical devices (e.g. kettle, toaster)
* DIY and garden electricals (e.g. power tools)
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Please do NOT bring:* Large electrical goods (e.g. fridges, freezers)
* TVs or any item with a screen (e.g. computer monitors)
* Light bulbs or fluorescent tubes
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On the day the Recycling Team will be there giving out information and advice.If you require more information please contact Customer Services on .
The District Council have advised the following changes for the Xmas period:
Monday 26 December 2011 changes to Tuesday 27 December 2011
Tuesday 27 December 2011 changes to Wednesday 28 December 2011
Wednesday 28 December 2011 changes to Thursday 29 December 2011
Thursday 29 December 2011 changes to Friday 30 December 2011
Friday 30 December 2011 changes to Saturday 31 December 2011
Monday 2 January 2012 – as normal
all other dates after this are as normal….
We are Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners in Rochford District.
We want to improve local decision-making and we see onlineFOCUS as a good way of keep residents informed and involved.
Please click here to email us .
Ron Oatham
Trevor Parrett
Bruce Smart
Chris Stanley
Pam Waldie
Elena Black
If you want information on a particular planning application, you can find it on the District Council website here.
If you want to know what new planning applications have been submitted this week, click here.
If you want to report a problem, you can email Lib Dems councillors by clicking here.
There's also an independent website called FixMyStreet. It's very good for reporting minor street problems like holes in the road, grafitti or failed streetlights. You can find FixMyStreet here.
Rochford District Council carries out grass cutting on behalf of the County Council.
If you see a grass verge that badly needs cutting, you can report it
here.
This is the official master document for planning policy in our district! To download it, click here
click here. (2.5mb)
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